


An Exercise in Perception

by Centeris2



Category: Star Stable
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 20:12:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13255761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Centeris2/pseuds/Centeris2
Summary: Ydris agrees to help Rebecca learn magic. He is less than helpful.





	1. Learning to Change

Ydris sipped his tea, quite pleased by how his day was turning out. Rebecca was sitting across from him, waiting for an answer. 

She hadn’t given him all the details but Ydris knew just the same: the Druids had cut Rebecca out. The state of limbo they had put her in did not sit well with her, and she was so very desperate to learn. That’s why she had come to Jorvik after all, to pursue her higher education. The fact that it turned out to be magic and not equine studies didn’t matter, she was so very hungry for knowledge. Ydris figured that was the second most terrifying thing about her for the druids. And now that they were restricting her training, her learning, she had come to the wizard instead. And by the smell of her a few others as well. Ydris was familiar with the scents of magic, they left different smells lingering on a person depending on the type of magic. And Rebecca was a bouquet of different magics, clearly she was not going to let some stuffy robed druids stop her from learning.

“So you want me to train you,” Ydris mulled over the words like he mulled over a new tea, savoring and testing the flavor in his mouth.

“I’ve said that,” Rebecca tried to sound patient but there was frustration in her voice. But she knew Ydris liked playing and being indirect, she would just have to get used to it if he gave her some lessons. 

The situation was perfect for Ydris, he and Pi had already discussed at length being sure Rebecca liked them. The Druids pushing her away only made it easier for him to get on Rebecca’s good side, all he had to do was remind her of what she already knew. He slowly, thoughtfully, finished his tea. He set down the cup and saucer, pondering, silent, not answering her as she waited expectantly.

“Outside!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands and standing abruptly, a flourish of his coat the last thing Rebecca saw as he left his wagon.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Rebecca muttered but followed him, standing back a ways as she watched Ydris inspect Midnightwarrior.

Midnightwarrior sniffed the magic user, Ydris’ smell could be a bit overwhelming when he got excited, the magic simply popped out of him in a cloud of flour from an exploding sack. Ydris offered a bow to Midnightwarrior and then his hands to sniff.

“I shall need your assistance, dark one, for this lesson!” Ydris informed the horse before he casually draped an arm over Midnightwarrior’s neck and looked at Rebecca with a serious expression, as though trying to look like a scholarly professor. 

“Lesson one! Whether on a stage or in the woods, magic is first and foremost about perception! If one can change their perception of reality, there is no telling what magic they can do!” Ydris explained, Rebecca wondered what exactly he meant but doubted she would get a straight answer.

“Now, I prefer learning from experience, so!” Ydris patted Midnightwarrior’s neck and snapped his fingers. 

Nothing happened. 

“Just wait!” Ydris said after a moment of awkward silence.

Rebecca shifted her weight, wondering what was supposed to happen.

“Ahh Pi my dear! I wondered when you’d stop by for a drink!” Ydris spun around and left them, waving down the witch as she landed, broomstick beneath her.

“Am I interrupting?” the witch asked cautiously, looking at Rebecca who was still standing in bewilderment. 

“Oh not at all! In fact you can help me teach our dear Rebecca some things about magic!” Ydris offered, Pi looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“And what are you teaching her?” Pi asked, Ydris giggling to himself and clapping his hands in excitement.

“What did you do?” Pi asked firmly, making the wizard begin bouncing in addition to the giggling and clapping. 

Rebecca’s neck snapped to the front with an audible crack, startling her and Midnightwarrior.

“Oh god, Ydris!” Pi smacked her forehead as Rebecca dropped to her knees, Midnightwarrior whining and buckling down to the ground. 

“My dear I’m just helping her remember!” Ydris whispered to Pi, thoroughly pleased as the human and horse twitched and writhed on the ground. 

“A little on the nose don’t you think?” Pi grumbled, watching. It was a bit gruesome to see the limbs contorting and changing, but Pi also knew it was painless. It was simply alarming when the participants don’t know what is happening to them, and of course Ydris had given them no warning. 

“What did you do!?” Rebecca demanded when she was able to speak again.

“Say that again please, my horse is a little rusty,” Ydris tittered, Pi smacking his arm for being cheeky.

“Horse?” Rebecca muttered, glancing around. Where was Midnightwarrior? Who was that person on the ground? Rebecca tried to stand up but nothing was in the right place, and her vision was funny. She tried to move her fingers and toes only to realize she had none, and after frantically looking at her hands she realized she had hooves.

“What the hell!” Rebecca screamed, scrambling off the ground on all fours before she fell over, not used to these limbs.

A frustrated scream made her look over at the dark human, who she realized was Midnightwarrior in human form. He stuck out his tongue and moved his lips, getting used to a human face.

“You may want this,” Ydris offered his jacket to the naked human man.

Rebecca and Midnightwarrior stared at each other, shocked by what they were seeing. Rebecca had been turned into a cremello horse, pale with bright blue eyes. She realized her words were neighs, and she could hear and smell so much more than before. But her vision was so much weaker, she could see so much more but the details were limited. Midnightwarrior on the other hand had kept his dark color: deep brown skin, long black hair, brown eyes. He was so small now, or maybe that was just because Rebecca was now a horse. Midnightwarrior tried to whiny but strange guttural sounds came out instead before he whined in frustration and snorted. He was equally disoriented by the change in shape and senses, and he disliked how his ears had changed so much. He couldn’t smell anything with his human nose, and everything sounded muted. How did humans manage to smell or hear anything?

“Congrats you swapped their forms, now what,” Pi grumbled, wondering what Ydris’ next move was. Ydris grinned at her.

“You didn’t think that far ahead,” Pi sighed.

“Not even remotely!” Ydris admitted with a laugh. Midnightwarrior and Rebecca both shouted in their own way, clearly displeased.

“Oh you two will be fine! It’s just a matter of getting used to your new bodies!” Ydris waved his hand dismissively, far too pleased by how this was going. 

“Now Pi, I believe you came for tea?” Ydris guided Pi inside his wagon, Rebecca and Midnightwarrior protesting as best they could.


	2. Learning to Walk

Rebecca had managed to roll onto her back, legs up in the air as she sighed. She looked over at Midnightwarrior, trying to figure out how to angle her head to actually see him. Midnightwarrior, likewise, was having difficulty figuring out how to look around. He wasn’t used to having eyes that looked directly ahead, it was strange.

Rebecca let out a whicker, an attempt at asking if he was okay. He snorted in frustration, but she felt no pain from him. Aside from being totally disoriented they were both unharmed. She rolled onto her side and he rolled onto his front, both of them trying to get up once more. Ydris and Pi were inside, no doubt watching and laughing at how awkward the pair looked tried to get to their feet. 

The cremello mare found her footing first, though she didn’t dare try to take a step once she was up. The dark man was having significantly more trouble. Foals can stand up quickly after birth, it takes significantly longer for a human to learn to stand upright, and Midnightwarrior didn’t have the luxury of years of experience walking on two legs. He also didn’t have the years of practice to figure out what to do with his tongue and lips to be able to form words. He snorted and grumbled, thoroughly frustrated at how difficult it was to be human. 

Rebecca tried to reach out to him and support him, taking very wobbly steps (and several missteps) to reach her frustrated steed turned human. 

“So the druids actually did it,” Pi muttered, looking at her tea. She was going to need something stronger to deal with Ydris, who was having far too much fun.

“Now she’s looking elsewhere to learn! It’s perfect!” Ydris smirked, handing her a bottle of brandy before she could ask. 

“You couldn’t start her off with a card trick or something? You just went full on transfiguration?” Pi groaned but accepted the brandy. 

“Why start small? She just need a little memory jogging and she won’t need us at all!”

“She won’t be able to jog when she can barely walk!” Pi nodded to the struggling horse and human outside. The Jester was now trying to help Midnightwarrior walk on two feet, it was going poorly. 

“Metaphorically!” Ydris waved his hand.

“Literally!” Pi groaned. 

“They will remember, it will just take a bit of time. Then the muscle memory will kick in and it’ll be smooth sailing!” Ydris ignored the crash outside from Rebecca toppling over. 

“What could go wrong?” he added with a wide smile, Pi’s tea quickly becoming brandy and not tea. 

“Four legs and two legs all wrong, go be six!” The Jester complained, trying to get Midnightwarrior and Rebecca onto their feet once more. Midnightwarrior snorted and let out a grumpy noise, words not forming.

“Speak human not horse!” The Jester grabbed Midnightwarrior’s mouth and moved his jaw around. He yelped when Midnightwarrior bit at his fingers. He still knew how to do that in a human body. 

The less than helpful Jester of the even less helpful Wizard finally gave up trying to help the transfigured pair, which they were both grateful for. With time and space Midnightwarrior was able to get up and walk, Rebecca beside him to help him keep his balance.

“See that only took a few hours!” Ydris called from the wagon’s open window. Inside Rebecca heard Pi drink from a bottle and groan.

Rebecca and Midnightwarrior both snorted in annoyance, but at least they were up and walking. 

“Now then! Human lessons!” Ydris came outside and grabbed Midnightwarrior, dragging the confused human inside and leaving Rebecca outside, confused. Pi exited the wagon a moment later, sighing and walking over to Rebecca.

“Guess I’m doing horse lessons,” the witch grumbled before she hopped up onto Rebecca’s back, surprising her. Rebecca scrambled to the side, surprised by the sudden weight, Pi managing to hang on. 

While Midnightwarrior was inside learning how to use fingers and speak Rebecca learned how to walk with a person on her back. Neither had a good time. Overall it was awkward and uncomfortable, totally foreign sensations and movements confusing. 

When night fell horse and human settled in near the circus, both still in the wrong forms. Midnightwarrior had earned the right to wear clothes by getting them on without assistance which he was happy about. Not having a coat was so cold. 

Both were quiet, not sure how to communicate except by being near each other. Midnightwarrior laid on the ground, looking up at the stars. He couldn’t hear them anymore, and that made him incredibly sad. Without his sensitive hearing he felt cut off from so much, he wondered how Rebecca dealt with such limited senses and the isolation of not being able to hear the sky. 

Rebecca snorted and looked around, her ears swiveling as she got used to how sensitive her ears were now. She didn’t understand what she was hearing, she could understand the wind blowing the leaves and grass, and the water in the distance, and the sound of the night creatures. But there was a strange sort of… singing? She didn’t know what to call it, some faint music that drifted around her that made her heart ache for something she didn’t remember.

He noticed her twitching and looking around, ears darting back and forth to figure out what she was hearing. He chuckled and pointed up, making her look at him and then up at the sky.

“The stars,” he managed to form the words, they felt clumsy on his tongue. Rebecca looked at him in shock, ears pinned on him. She didn’t know what she expected his voice to sound like, but it was beautiful and strong and sounded like home. She nuzzled his pointed finger before she looked up and focused her ears on the sky. The longer she listened the more she heard, the sky and stars and clouds whispering songs to her. 

Midnightwarrior felt Rebecca’s soft nose, it felt familiar under his fingers, like he was feeling his own face. Rebecca took in a deep breath, smelling him properly now that she was adjusting to how sensitive her nose was. He smelled so different like this, and she wondered if it was because he was in a human body or because she now was using a horse nose. Whatever the reason she loved his smell, comforted by how it fitted him. She hadn’t thought about how he would smell as a human, why would she, and yet it was perfect. 

Inside the Wizard’s wagon Ydris took a victory drink, satisfied by the day’s work.


	3. Learning to Run

After a night of sleeping in new bodies things felt easier. They adjusted to their switch marvelously, Ydris thoroughly pleased with their progress. So pleased, in fact, that he shoved Midnightwarrior onto Rebecca’s back and told them to have fun, going back into his wagon and leaving them alone. 

It was different seeing Jorvik from switched perspectives, the pair of them slowly explored trails they had traveled countless times. The farther they went the more natural it felt, as if Rebecca had always been the horse and Midnightwarrior always the human. By noon they were galloping across The Forgotten Fields, the wobbling and balancing issues blown away.

Pi watched them from above on her broom, wondering how long Ydris was going to keep them in their current forms. Sure Pi could undo his spell, but she felt like Ydris needed to take some responsibility for what he had done. And Rebecca and Midnightwarrior were nowhere near far enough along in their magic training to know how to undo it themselves. 

“You can turn them back now,” Pi said as she entered Ydris’ wagon. 

“Oh?” he asked expectantly.

“They are running,” Pi informed him, although he should have known that already.

“How exciting!” he crooned, “anything else?”

“Are you expecting something else?”

Ydris deflated at that, clearly upset. 

“Well yeah, I thought with them switching forms they might, I dunno,” Ydris mumbled and rubbed the back of his neck.

“You thought that might be what they need to wake up,” Pi finished for him, rubbing her forehead.

“It isn’t going to be that easy,” Pi commented, although she wished it was so simple. 

“I guess this lesson can be over with then, maybe the next one will jumpstart their memory,” Ydris complained as though he was doing such difficult work. He snapped his fingers and pouted, wanting Pi to give him sympathy. She did not.

Rebecca halted, Midnightwarrior dismounting and stumbling to his hands and knees. The second transformation was less confusing but still felt strange. Luckily they transformed back to their original bodies with their previous clothes intact. Rebecca was especially happy she didn’t transform into a naked woman in the middle of a field in broad daylight.

“I guess that lesson is over?” Rebecca looked over at Midnightwarrior, who sighed happily and was happy to have his proper senses back. He nuzzled his human. While switching roles had been insightful, they were glad to be back to normal.


End file.
